In the electrical industry, electrical cables are mounted to different types of electrical devices using cable lugs. Generally, electrical devices that use cables with lugs include low voltage and medium voltage devices (e.g., 600 volts to 69 kVolts), such as circuit breakers and switches. For example, switches or circuit breakers are typically electrically and physically connected to electrical cables via cable lugs. In some devices, lug pads are used to further facilitate the connection to the cables, which are typically difficult to bend.
Present lug pads are limited to configurations in which only holes are used for connecting cable lugs to electrical devices. For example, a current configuration requires lug pads to have a double-hole pattern that is identical to a bolt-hole pattern of respective cable lugs. The double-hole pattern, in contrast to a single hole, is required to provide necessary mounting strength and additional current paths between the lug pads and the cable lugs. Accordingly, to mount cable lugs to lug pads, the double-hole cable lugs and the lug pads must be positioned such that the two patterns are aligned with each other. This requirement proves difficult in the field, because it forces an installer to bend and maneuver cables in tight spaces of electrical cubicles for achieving necessary alignment between the holes of the lug pad and the bolts of the cable lug.
Bending space in confined spaces, such as electrical cubicles, is a limited and very expensive commodity. The minimum bending radii of cable is defined by the National Electrical Code (“NEC”). In accordance with NEC calculations, the cable bending required by present electrical cubicles, to align cable lugs and lug pads, unnecessarily increases the required bending space, and, consequently, the size of the electrical cubicle. Space is always at a premium for enclosed electrical equipment. Additionally, cable cost is unnecessarily increased by requiring cables of longer length for bending the cable lug in position relative to the lug pad.